As is well known, bowling as such as ten pin bowling, is played in two main forms. One form is league bowling wherein a plurality of teams compete against one another. The other form is so-called open bowling where individuals play strictly for recreational purposes and/or to compete amongst themselves on an individual basis.
Bowling proprietors, that is, the owners of bowling establishments, rely on open bowling to occupy their establishments when league play is not occurring. Without the revenue stream produced by open bowling, most proprietors would suffer financial difficulty. Consequently, it is desirable to maintain and increase the number of open bowlers using a given bowling establishment.
To accomplish this goal, variations on conventional bowling have been derived to entice open bowlers to a bowling establishment. One promotion that has worked well to attract open bowlers has been the so called "black out promotion", often referred to as "moonlight bowling". For this, the lights of the bowling establishment are dimmed and lighting above the lanes eliminated entirely. Moonlight bowling is especially popular with bowling proprietors because the relaxed, fun atmosphere that results attracts customers who are often not regular bowlers. These new customers, then, provide the means whereby the number of open bowlers using an establishment may be maintained and/or increased to thereby maintain and/or increase the revenue stream generated by open bowling.
While the advent of moonlight bowling has indeed succeeded in attracting non-regular bowlers, it remains nonetheless a goal of a bowling proprietor to achieve an even greater increase in non-regular bowlers attending his establishment. The present invention is directed to achieving that object.